Nasa's "Black" Shuttle?

Is this a picture of Nasa's black shuttle?
It looks like a scramjet shuttle, and if you think about it, that might be why Nasa likes there shuttle program so much, Because they share stuff with the black shuttle, "IE- The 747 and its tower thing that lifts it off of its back.

The X-43 could of been its front, which was supposed to have a follow on craft called the X-43C, but its been cancelled.

Plus Nasa has been reluctant to build a successfull shuttle replacement, Could this be why?

Nasa's Scramjet Shuttle

Looks Pretty, It could be the next generation of the space shuttle.

Great picture I dont know what that thing is. I have never seen anything like that if it is real that would indeed be a new craft for NASA.

I think your right about the scramjet the it looks alot like the test versions of scramjets. The large forward canards are interesting if that thing was just a big glider like the shuttle would it even need those?

[edit on 12-9-2004 by ShadowXIX]

The canards were supossed to be on the X-43B, which was supposedly cancelled.

WOW! is that a real pic?????

Looking at it, it seems to be a scram jet from the engines on the bottom of the craft. I totaly agree on that.

Could it be a precurser to this?










Also, what would the forward canards be there for? The decent back to earth?

It also has an uncany resemblance to Bill Sweetmans Aurora mockup. Almost to every detail except the canards. Notice they both have the upturned wingtips, and the tail is almost exactly the same




If this pic is real, I believe this to be more evidance that the Aurora exists. Surely any Scramjet technology available to NASA would have been availabe to the military long before then....

What bothers me about this picture is two things, mainly.

Firstly, why is the scramjet area underneath so well defines by light grey lines that appear to have been drawn on?

Secondly, the canards look completely wrong. They are not the same shape at all as those shown on the X-43b picture, they look more like a digitally manipulated Space Shuttle fin, their long chord design is far too fragile for a re-entry vehicle.The undersurface of the canard which would be fully exposed on re-entry, only appears to have heat shielding along the leading edge and around the rudder, why would this be when the rest of the undersurface appears totally protected? They look to me as if they would burn straight off.

I agree - the pic does look a little dubious - but lets assume it is real for the moment.

As far as the canards go, there are a lot of hypersonic designs that involve retractable canards. I believe (but could be mistaken) that the reason for this is because the shape of a high speed aircraft does not usually lend it's self a lot of lift and/or control surfaces for low speeds. Thus, on a landing aproach you might need them. Again - I could be completely wrong, but this is the way I understand it.

I never considered retractable canards, thats a good point. Interestingly it still doesn't make the photo look any more believable, good call.

edit; I've been looking at the photo some more and I've also come to the conclusion that the wing itself is straight off the Space Shuttle. The curvature, the control surfaces, they're just the same. I'm now pretty sure, if not actually convinced, that this is fake a decent bit of photoshopping that only falls down because of the outlining of the engine and wrong type of canards which invite closer inspection. Without them it might have been more convincing. I remain, however, open to be convinced otherwise.

[edit on 12-9-2004 by waynos]

Murcielago, where and how did you find this pic?
That's your geocities website, isn't it?

look at the shadow the top plane casts on the bottom plane.... think about it !!!! its skewed good try at a wannabe picture though........

Well spotted, I notice how the canards (I'm obsessed with them aren't I They're just SO wrong) cast no shadow wat all.

indeed, well spotted.
The shadow looks almost identical to the shadow the real shuttle casts, while the wings are very different:

someone has subsituted a shuttle with this new thingy.

I agree that something just looks off about it. I'd love for this to be real. I really do, but this is the first i've ever seen this. If it does turn out to be real, i'd have a feeling that it's a partly working proto-type, if that even. If NASA had a working alternative to get people into space they'd be using it and not hidding it... no reason why they should. I wouldn't say NASA has been relectant to build a new shuttle. I think it's just that they can't afford to.

Well I did a google image search with no luck. Found lots of pics of the NASA 747, but nothing that matched this photo. This could be also just some photomanip/concept artwork done by NASA or something too. Sadly I have a feeling that this isn't real.

Looks like it's a fake

Originally posted by Murcielago
Is this a picture of Nasa's black shuttle?
It looks like a scramjet shuttle, and if you think about it, that might be why Nasa likes there shuttle program so much, Because they share stuff with the black shuttle, "IE- The 747 and its tower thing that lifts it off of its back.

Good post Mucielago.

One point I want to make is that black projects often have a "white" one developed in parallel. Look no further than the A-12 and the SR-71. Operational security was kept for quite some time on that one. Its not unreasonable that the military developed say a black version of the VentureStar or other plane. That would explain as you pointed out, why NASA is being so tepid about a shuttle replacement. They may be providing cover for the military. They may also be paying for some of it out of thier budget.

I have often wondered if the reports of the Aurora were sigtings of a military space plane

It looks like a manipulated shuttle pic. Notice the tail seems to be stretched and duplicated (like a copy/paste) to produce the second tail and the fuselage is nearly identical to the shuttle in the subsequent pics.

Not a bad job for CGI. I have serious doubt that a "black" shuttle would be embazoned wit United States all over it though. Cool pic, it's me next wallpaper!

This is a fake, ehy would NASA first of all have a "black shuttle" since its a civilian agency, and even then why would it roll it out in the day time if it is black. There definentely is a black shuttle because the reasons for the X-33 development resulted from black advances, but apparantely there was not enough information shared because it is cancelled. If there is a secret shuttle the AirForce/Cia would definientely be the owners, not an exploration Agency like NASA.